Technical writing by ta rickard

Technical Writing Evaluation Report

Technically-Write!

Ron B l i c q Lisa Moretto RGI International

S ix t h Ed i t i on

Upper Saddle River, New Jersey Columbus, Ohio

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Technically – Write! Sixth Edition, by Ron Blicq and Lisa Moretto.Published by Prentice Hall.Copyright ©2004 by Pearson Education, Inc.

ISBN :0-536-45204-0

Technically – Write! Sixth Edition, by Ron Blicq and Lisa Moretto.Published by Prentice Hall.Copyright ©2004 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Editor in Chief: Stephen Helba Executive Editor: Gary Bauer Editorial Assistant: Natasha Holden Production Editor: Louise N. Sette Design Coordinator: Diane Ernsberger Cover Designer: Monica Kompter Cover art: Comstock Production Manager: Brian Fox Marketing Manager: Leigh Ann Sims

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ISBN 0-13-114878-8

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v

Contents

About the Authors xi

Preface xiii

People as “Communicators” xv

Chapter 1 Why Technical People Need to Write Well 1

The First Fifty Years 1 A Change in Style 2

Chapter 2 A Technical Person’s Approach to Writing 4

Simplifying the Approach 4 Planning the Writing Task 5 Writing the First Draft 12 Taking a Break 15 Reading with a Plan 16

Checking for Clarity 16 Checking for Correct Tone and Style 18 Checking for Accuracy 21

Revising Your Own Words 21 Assignments 23

Chapter 3 Letters, Memos, and Emails 24

Using the Pyramid 24 Identifying the Main Message 24 Getting Started 25 Avoiding False Starts 27

Planning the Letter 27 Opening Up the Pyramid 29 Writing to Inform 31 Writing to Persuade 32

Creating a Confident Image 37 Be Brief 37 Be Clear 40

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Technically – Write! Sixth Edition, by Ron Blicq and Lisa Moretto.Published by Prentice Hall.Copyright ©2004 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Be Definite 41 Close on a Strong Note 41

Adopting a Pleasant Tone 42 Know Your Reader 42 Be Sincere 43 Be Human 43 Avoid Words That Antagonize 43 Know When to Stop 45

Using a Businesslike Format 45 Letter Styles 46 Interoffice Memo 49 Fax Cover Sheet 50

Writing Electronic Mail 51 Email Netiquette 52 Email Guidelines 54

Assignments 57

Chapter 4 Short Informal Reports 66

Internal Versus External 66 Writing Style 67 Incident Report 68 Trip Report 73

Short Trip Reports 73 Longer Trip Reports 74

Progress or Status Reports 77 Occasional Progress Report 77 Periodic Progress Report 77 Personal Progress Report 83

Project Completion Report 84 Inspection Report 86 Laboratory Report 89 Assignments 93

Chapter 5 Longer Informal and Semiformal Reports 100

Investigation Report 100 Conducting a Comparative Analysis 105 Opening with a Summary Page 107

Evaluation Report/Feasibility Study 109 Assignments 118

vi Contents

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Technically – Write! Sixth Edition, by Ron Blicq and Lisa Moretto.Published by Prentice Hall.Copyright ©2004 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Chapter 6 Formal Reports 124

Major Parts 125 Summary 125 Introduction 127 Discussion 129 Conclusions 134 Recommendations 135 Appendixes 135

Subsidiary Parts 136 Cover 136 Title Page 137 Table of Contents 137 References (Endnotes), Bibliography, and Footnotes 138 Cover Letter 146 Executive Summary 147

The Complete Formal Report 147 The Main Parts 147 Traditional Arrangement of Report Parts 148 Pyramidal Arrangement of Report Parts 153

Assignments 177

Chapter 7 Technical Proposals 186

Overall Writing Plan 187 Short Informal Proposal 188 Longer Informal or Short Semiformal Proposal 188 Student Project Proposal 198 Longer Semiformal Proposal: Single Solution 199 Longer Semiformal Proposal: Multiple Solutions 200 Writing Plan Flexibility 203 The Language of Proposal Writing 203

1. Present Only Essential Information 203 2. Use the Active Voice 203 3. Avoid Wishy-washy Words 204 4. Avoid Giving Opinions 204

Assignments 205

Chapter 8 Other Technical Documents 208

User’s Manual 208 Identify the Audience 208

Contents vii

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Writing Plan 209 Describing the Product 209 Using the Product 210

Technical Instruction 214 Start with a Plan 215 Give Your Reader Confidence 216 Avoid Ambiguity 217 Write Bite-Size Steps 218 Insert Fail-Safe Precautions 220 Insist on an Operational Check 220

Scientific Paper 221 Appearance 221 Writing Style 222 Organization 222

Technical Papers and Articles 226 Assignments 232

Chapter 9 Illustrating Technical Documents 238

Primary Guidelines 238 Computer-Designed Graphs and Charts 239 Graphs 239

Single Curve 240 Multiple Curves 240 Scales 242 Simplicity 245

Charts 246 Bar Charts 246 Histograms 249 Surface Charts 249 Pie Charts 253

Diagrams 253 Photographs 254 Tables 256 Positioning the Illustrations 257 Working with an Illustrator 258 Assignments 260

Chapter 10 Technically-Speak! 262

The Technical Briefing 262

viii Contents

ISBN :0-536-45204-0

Technically – Write! Sixth Edition, by Ron Blicq and Lisa Moretto.Published by Prentice Hall.Copyright ©2004 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Establish the Circumstances 262 Find a Pattern 263 Prepare to Speak 264 Now Make Your Presentation 267

The Technical Paper 270 Taking Part in Meetings 272

The Chairperson’s Role 272 The Participants’ Role 275 The Secretary’s Role 276

Assignments 278

Chapter 11 Communicating with Prospective Employers 282

The Employment-Seeking Process 283 Using the Internet in Your Job Search 284 Developing a Personal Data Record 285

Education 286 Work Experience 286 Extracurricular Activities 286 References 287

Preparing a Resume 288 Resume Formats 288

The Traditional Resume 289 The Focused Resume 292 The Functional Resume 294

Electronic Resume Formats 302 Plain Text Resumes 302 Keyword Summary Resumes 304 Scanned Resumes 305 HTML Web Portfolios 305

Writing a Letter of Application 306 The Solicited Application Letter 307 The Unsolicited Application Letter 310

Completing a Company Application Form 310 Attending an Interview 312

Prepare for the Interview 312 Create a Good Initial Impression 314 Participate Throughout the Interview 314

Accepting a Job Offer 316 Assignments 318

Contents ix

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Chapter 12 The Technique of Technical Writing 322

The Whole Document 322 Tone 322 Style 324 Appearance 326 Use Good Language 331

Paragraphs 332 Unity 332 Coherence 333 Adequate Development 335 Correct Length 336

Sentences 337 Unity 337 Coherence 338 Emphasis 339 Completeness 341

Words 343 Words That Tell a Story 344 Combining Words into Compound Terms 345 Long Versus Short Words 346 Low-Information-Content Expressions 346

Some Fine Points 348 Using Parallelism to Good Effect 348 Abbreviating Technical and Nontechnical Terms 352 Writing Numbers in Narrative 353 Writing Metric Units and Symbols (SI) 354 Writing Non-Gender-Specific Language 356

Writing for an International Audience 359 Writing Business Correspondence 360 Revising the Writing Plan 361 Writing Guidelines 362

Assignments 363

Glossary of Technical Usage 374

Index 401

Marking Control Chart 409

x Contents

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Technically – Write! Sixth Edition, by Ron Blicq and Lisa Moretto.Published by Prentice Hall.Copyright ©2004 by Pearson Education, Inc.

xi

About the Authors

on Blicq and Lisa Moretto are Senior Consultants with RGI International, a consulting company specializing in oral and written communication. They teach workshops, based on the Pyramid

Method of Writing presented in this book, to audiences all over the world. In 2001, they opened a second company—RGI Learning Inc.—specifical- ly to deliver their courses on the Web. Their web site is www.rgilearning. com.

Ron is Senior Consultant at RGI’s Canadian office. He has extensive experience as a technical writer and editor with the Royal Air Force in Britain and CAE Industries Limited in Canada, and taught technical com- munication at Red River College from 1967 to 1990. Ron has authored five books with Pearson Education and has written and produced six edu- cational video programs, such as Sharpening Your Business Communication Skills and So, You Have to Give a Talk? He is a Fellow of both the Society for Technical Communication and the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing, and a Life Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. Ron lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Lisa is Senior Consultant at RGI’s United States office. She has expe- rience as an Information Developer for IBM in the US and as a Learning Products Engineer for Hewlett-Packard in the UK. Lisa holds a B.S. in Technical Communication from Clarkson University in New York, and an M.S. in User Interface Design from the London Guildhall University in England. Her specialties include developing online interactive information, designing user interfaces, and writing product documen- tation. She is a senior member of the Society for Technical Communication and a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. Lisa lives in Rochester, New York.

R

(Photo: Mary Lou Stein)

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Technically – Write! Sixth Edition, by Ron Blicq and Lisa Moretto.Published by Prentice Hall.Copyright ©2004 by Pearson Education, Inc.

ISBN :0-536-45204-0

Technically – Write! Sixth Edition, by Ron Blicq and Lisa Moretto.Published by Prentice Hall.Copyright ©2004 by Pearson Education, Inc.

xiii

Preface

his book presents all aspects of technical communication that you, as a technician, technologist, engineer, scientist, computer and envi- ronmental specialist, or technical manager, are likely to encounter in

industry. It contains numerous examples of letters, reports, and proposals, all based on the unique “pyramid” method for structuring information, a technique that has helped countless technical people overcome “writer’s block.”

With each previous edition of Technically-Write!, changes were intro- duced to reflect the way technical professionals were currently presenting information in the various industries and in engineering consulting firms. This edition is no exception—in fact we have made more changes than ever before. Here are some of the most noticeable revisions:

● There is a new, opening chapter that traces how, over 100 years ago, the engineering community recognized that more attention needed to be placed on increasing a technical professional’s ability to commu- nicate effectively, and how lecturers at universities and colleges responded.

● Chapter 3 has more information on how to plan and write email messages.

● Chapter 4 now includes a personal progress report which helps keep managers informed of the writer’s activities.

● There is a comprehensive new chapter (Chapter 7) on how to write informal and semiformal proposals.

● The chapter on writing resumes and attending interviews (Chapter 11) has been enlarged to include new techniques for submitting elec- tronic resumes.

● The glossary has been enlarged to include more computer-related terms.

If you have seen previous editions, you will have noticed that the shape of the book has also changed. The shape will seem slimmer because we have reduced the number of pages by about 7%. We did this partly to help reduce the cost for purchasers, and partly to place some of the assign- ments and exercises in an instructor’s manual and for electronic delivery.

Information about the two companies—H. L. Winman and Associates and Macro Engineering Inc.—has been removed, but many of the model let- ters and reports, and end-of-chapter assignments, still retain these two com- panies to provide a logical environment for the documents and exercises.

T

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xiv Preface

Along the way, we have very much appreciated the friendly advice and many helpful suggestions from users of the book, both teachers and stu- dents, and the advice of reviewers. In particular, we would like to thank the following reviewers: John Roberts (Mohawk College), Lisa Wolanski- McGirr (Keewatin College), George Scott (Seneca College), Alexa Campbell (Red River College), Elizabeth Smyth and Joe Benge (Camosun College). Their ideas have guided us in preparing this sixth edition. We are also celebrating, for it’s 32 years since the first edition of Technically- Write! was published!

R.B. & L.M.

Supplements The sixth edition of Technically-Write! is supported by a comprehensive supplements package, which includes the following:

● Instructor’s Resource Manual with Transparency Masters ISBN 0-13-117238-7

● Test Item File ISBN 0-13-117237-9 ● Test GenEQ ISBN 0-13-117236-0 ● Text-Enrichment Website ISBN 0-13-117234-4 ● Instructor Resource CD ISBN 0-13-117526-2

ISBN :0-536-45204-0

Technically – Write! Sixth Edition, by Ron Blicq and Lisa Moretto.Published by Prentice Hall.Copyright ©2004 by Pearson Education, Inc.

xv

People as “Communicators”

e are equipped with a highly sophisticated communication sys- tem, yet we consistently fail to use it properly. The system com- prises a transmitter and receiver combined into a single package

controlled by a built-in computer, the brain. It accepts multiple inputs and transmits in three mediums: action, speech, and writing.

We spend many of our waking hours communicating, half the time as a transmitter, half as a receiver. If, as a receiver, we mentally switch off or permit ourselves to change channels while someone else is trans- mitting, we contribute to information loss. Similarly, if as a transmitter we permit our narrative to become disorganized, unconvincing, or sim- ply uninteresting, we encourage frequency drift. Our listeners detune their receivers and let their computers think about the lunch that’s immi- nent, or wonder if they should rent a video tonight.

As long as a person transmits clearly, efficiently, and persuasively, people receiving the message keep their receivers “locked on” to the transmitting frequency (this applies to all written, visual, and spoken transmissions). Such conditions expedite the transfer of information, or “communication.”

In direct contact, in which one person is speaking directly to another, the receiver has the opportunity to ask the transmitter to clarify vaguely presented information. But in more formal speech situations, and in all forms of written and most visual communication, the receiver no longer has this advantage. He or she cannot stop a speaker who mumbles or uses unfamiliar terminology to ask that parts of a talk be repeated or clarified; neither can the receiver easily ask a writer in another city to explain an incoherent passage of a business letter, or the producer of a video program to describe the point the video is trying to make.

The results of failure to communicate efficiently soon become appar- ent. If people fail to make themselves clear in day-to-day communica- tion, the consequences are likely to differ from those they anticipated, as Cam Collins has discovered to his chagrin.

Cam is a junior electrical engineer at Macro Engineering Inc., and his specialty is high-voltage power generation. When he first read about a recent extra-high-voltage (EHV) DC power conference, he wanted urgently to attend. In a memorandum to Fred Stokes, the company’s chief engineer, Cam described the conference in glowing terms that he hoped would convince Fred to approve his request. This is what he wrote:

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Fred

The EHV conference described in the attached brochure is just the thing we

have been looking for. Only last week you and I discussed the shortage of

good technical information in this area, and now here is a conference featur-

ing papers on many of the topics we are interested in. The cost is only $228 for

registration, which includes a visit to the Freeling Rapids Generating Station.

Travel and accommodation will be about $850 extra. I’m informing you of this

early so you can make a decision in time for me to arrange flight bookings

and accommodation.

Cam

Fred Stokes was equally enthusiastic and wrote back: Cam

Thanks for informing me of the EHV DC conference. I certainly don’t want to

miss it. Please make reservations for me as suggested in your memorandum.

Fred

Cam was the victim of his own carelessness: he had failed to com- municate clearly that it was he who wanted to go to Freeling Rapids!

Elizabeth Drew, on the other hand, did not realize she had missed a golden opportunity to be first with an innovative computer technique until it was too late to do anything about it. Her story stems from an incident that occurred several years ago, when she was a recently gradu- ated engineer employed by a manufacturer of agricultural machinery. Elizabeth’s job was to design modifications to the machinery, and then prepare the change procedure documentation for the production depart- ment, service representatives, sales staff, and customers.

“For each modification I had to coordinate three different docu- ments,” she explained to us over lunch. “First, there had to be a design change notice to send out to everyone concerned. And then there had to be an ‘exploded’ isometric drawing showing a clear view of every part, with each part cross-referenced to a parts list. And finally there had to be the parts list itself, with every item labeled fully and accurately.”

Elizabeth found that cross-referencing a drawing to its parts list was a tedious, time-consuming task. The isometric drawing of the part was computer generated by the drafting department. The parts list was also keyed into a computer, but by a separate department. However, because the two computer systems were incompatible, cross-referencing had to be done manually.

“And then I hit on a technique for interfacing the two programs,” Elizabeth explained. “It was simple, really, and I kept wondering why no one else had thought of it!”

Without telling anyone, she modified one of the company’s software programs and tested her idea with five different modification kits. “It worked!” she laughed. “And, best of all, I found that cross-referencing could be done in one-tenth of the time.”

xvi People as ”Communicators”

Cam’s request fails to

convince

Elizabeth has a good

idea...

...it was simple and effi-

cient...

ISBN :0-536-45204-0

Technically – Write! Sixth Edition, by Ron Blicq and Lisa Moretto.Published by Prentice Hall.Copyright ©2004 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Elizabeth felt her employer should know about her idea: possibly the company could market the software, or even help her copyright it. So the following day she stopped Mr. Haddon, the Engineering Manager, as they passed in the hallway, and blurted out her suggestion. This is the conversation that ensued:

People as ”Communicators” xvii

Elizabeth Oh! Mr. Haddon! You know how long it takes to do the documenta- tion for a new part…?

The problem is in trying to inter- face between the graphics com- puter and the parts list…

…It has to be done by hand, you see…

Oh, yes! They do. I was just trying to help them…to speed up their work a bit.

Oh, no! It was just an idea I had— to modify the software we use…

No. You didn’t. I was doing it on my own… (She meant she was doing it on her own time.)

Well—uh—no. Not exactly…

(Reluctantly) Uh-huh.

I wanted to try…

Mr. Haddon

Yes..s..s..?

(Mr. Haddon appeared to be lis- tening politely, but internally he was growing impatient.)

Doesn’t the drafting department do all that?

You’re working for the chief draftsman now?

I don’t remember issuing you a work order…

You mean the I.T. people asked you to do it?

But you have been modifying one of our software programs? Without authority?

I thought I had made it quite clear to all the staff: No projects are to be undertaken without my approval! (His tone was cold and abrupt.)

That’s final! (And he turned on his heel and continued down the hall.)

...but Elizabeth didn’t

know how to articulate

her ideas clearly

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Elizabeth’s simple suggestion had become lost in a web of misunder- standing. By the time she was through explaining what she had been doing, she had given up trying to offer her idea to the company. And so her idea lay dormant for two years, until a major software company came out with a comparable program. Elizabeth knew then that perhaps there had been market potential for her design.

If Cam Collins and Elizabeth Drew had paused to consider the needs of the people who were to receive their information, they would never have launched precipitously into discourses that omitted essential facts. Cam had only to start his memorandum with a request (“May I have your approval to attend an EHV DC conference next month?”), and Elizabeth with a statement of purpose (“I have designed a software pro- gram that can save us hundreds of dollars annually. May I have a few moments to describe it to you?”), to command the attention of their department heads. Both Mr. Stokes and Mr. Haddon could then have much more effectively appraised the information.

Such circumstances occur daily. They are frustrating to those who fail to communicate their ideas, and costly when the consequences are carried into business and industry.

Bill Carr recently devised and installed a monitor unit for the remote control panel at the microwave relay station where he is the resident engineering technologist. As his modification greatly improved operating methods, Janet Reid, Manager of Technical Services at head office, asked him to submit an installation drawing and an accompanying description. Here is part of his description:

Some difficulty was experienced in finding a suitable location for the monitor

unit. Eventually it was mounted on a locally manufactured bracket attached to

the left-hand upright of the control panel, as shown on the attached drawing.

On the strength of Bill’s explicit mounting description and detailed list of hardware, Janet instructed project coordinator Phyllis Walters to convert Bill’s description into an installation instruction, purchase mate- rials, assemble 21 modification kits, and ship them to the 21 other relay stations in the microwave link.

Within a week, the 21 resident engineering technologists were reporting to Phyllis that it was impossible to mount the monitor unit as instructed, because of an adjoining control unit. Neither Janet nor Phyllis had remembered that Bill Carr was located at site 22, the last relay station in the microwave link, where there was no need for an additional control unit. Bill had assumed that Janet would be aware that the equipment layout at his station was unique. As he commented after- ward: “I was never told why I had to describe the modification, or what head office planned to do with my description.”

In business and industry we must communicate clearly and under- stand fully the implications of failing to do so. A poorly worded order

xviii People as ”Communicators”

They need to focus their

messages

Good intentions...

...resulting in confusion!

ISBN :0-536-45204-0

Technically – Write! Sixth Edition, by Ron Blicq and Lisa Moretto.Published by Prentice Hall.Copyright ©2004 by Pearson Education, Inc.

that results in the wrong part being supplied to a job site, a weak report that fails to motivate the reader to take the urgent action needed to avert a costly equipment breakdown, and even an inadequate job application that fails to sell an employer on the right person for a prospective job, all increase the cost of doing business. Such mistakes and misunder- standings are wasteful of the country’s labor and resources. Many of them can be prevented by more effective communication—communica- tion that is receiver-oriented rather than transmitter-oriented, and that transmits messages using the most expeditious, economical, and efficient means at our command.

People as ”Communicators” xix

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ISBN :0-536-45204-0

Technically – Write! Sixth Edition, by Ron Blicq and Lisa Moretto.Published by Prentice Hall.Copyright ©2004 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Chapter 1

Why Technical People Need to Write Well

Over the past four years we have asked numerous technical professionals: “What is the publication date of the earliest book on technical writing that you own?”

Nearly everyone listed books from the 1960s and 1970s. Yet our research shows that the teaching of technical writing in science and engin- eering courses began more than one hundred years ago, in 1901, when the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education (SPEE) published this succinct statement:

The writing skills of engineering students are deplorable and need to be

addressed by engineering colleges.

These words did not go unheeded. Although technical communication was not part of a technical student’s curriculum in those days, and was rarely included even in the range of courses taught by the English depart- ment, some engineering and English professors, both in North America and Great Britain, quietly began teaching the importance of good writing as part of other technical courses. After doing this for many years, some of them published books based on the notes they had typed up for their students. The following is a brief history of those texts.

The First Fifty Years In 1908, T. A. Rickard, an associate of the Royal School of Mines in London, England, published a book titled A Guide to Technical Writing.1

He wrote:

Conscientious writers try to improve their mode of expression by precision of

terms, by careful choice of words, and by the arrangement of them so that they

become efficient carriers of thought from one mind to another.

Rickard titled one of his chapters: “A Plea for Greater Simplicity in the Language of Science,” having noticed that technical people tended to write in a long-winded way that was not easy for anyone outside their dis- cipline to understand.

In 1922, Karl Owen Thompson, who taught English at Case School of Applied Science in Cleveland, Ohio, published a book titled Technical

1

Technical

Communication

Overview

http://saulcarliner.home.

att.net/idbusiness/

historytc.htm

This site includes a brief

history of technical

communication.

In the early 1900s, tech-

nical communication

was taught by engin-

eering professors.

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2 Chapter 1

Exposition.2 In the introduction to his book he commented on the differ- ences between literary and technical writing:

The study of English at a scientific school has a more directly professional applica-

tion than it has at an academic college. Instead of courses in literature with their

cultural purposes, courses are given that prepare the students for the types of

reading and writing that will be required of them after they are graduated from

college…. English is more than a tool, it is a part of life itself in its many activities.

At the University of Michigan’s College of Engineering, J. Raleigh Nelson insisted from 1915 onward that his students write clearly. In 1940 he summed up his thoughts in a book titled Writing the Technical Report,3

in which he wrote:

In report writing, in particular, there is an increasing demand that the first page

or two shall provide a comprehensive idea of the whole report.

This was the first documented reference to what we now refer to as the Executive Summary, which precedes a long report or proposal (see Chapter 6). Reginald Kapp taught electrical engineering at University College in London. Like Nelson, he insisted his students write well. In 1948 he summed up his thoughts in a pocket-sized reference book titled The Presentation of Technical Information,4 in which he particularly drew attention to the importance of identifying the audience before (in those days) putting pen to paper. He wrote:

You must consider carefully the extent of the reader’s knowledge, his range of

interests, and…any peculiarities, whatever they may be, that might influence his

receptivity for the information you have to impart.

Similarly, forty years earlier, T. A. Rickard had written:

If you describe a stamp-mill to an experienced mill-man, a mining student, or a

bishop, you will vary the manner of telling. The most effective will be that which

has a sympathetic appreciation of the other fellow’s receptiveness. Do not plant

carnations in a clay soil, or rice in a sand-heap.5

(These authors were writing books for technical professionals, who were almost entirely male in the early part of the 20th century. They would write very differently today: for example, T. A. Rickard would probably change mill-man to mill worker and other fellow’s to other per- son’s.)

A Change in Style Tyler G. Hicks was a mechanical engineer who taught at Cooper Union School of Engineering. He had written numerous articles and three tech- nical books before turning his attention to engineering writing. In 1959, Hicks wrote Successful Technical Writing,6 a major milepost for books on technical writing because of his refreshing directness and style. Here are three examples:

In today’s global com-

munity, Thompson

would replace “English”

with “Language”

Rickard and Kapp

strongly stressed the

need to identify the

audience before starting

to write

Technical

Communication

Quarterly

www.attw.org/

Technical

Communication

Quarterly is the journal

of the Association for

Teachers of Technical

Writing.

ISBN :0-536-45204-0

Technically – Write! Sixth Edition, by Ron Blicq and Lisa Moretto.Published by Prentice Hall.Copyright ©2004 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Technical writing always pays off. You never lose when you write a good technical

piece…. Good writing is a sure road to professional recognition.

Talk directly to the reader. Bring him into the discussion. Use the personal pro-

nouns “we” and “you,” but with discretion.

Choose verbs that create active impressions to the reader, and steer clear of the

passive voice. You thus give life to your style.

The five writers discussed here were very conscious that they were preparing their students to take up important roles in the engineering and technical professions. What they had to say to their students then is just as relevant today.

When, as a newly graduated engineer, engineering technician, or com- puter or environmental specialist, you first become employed in a techni- cal field, you might be surprised to discover that report writing is an inte- gral part of your work. As you advance in your chosen profession, you will also find that you will have to do more and more writing. We hope that Technically-Write! helps prepare you for the many situations you encounter.

Why Technical People Need to Write Well 3

Hicks’s writing still sits

well with today’s readers

Although writing styles

may have changed, the

message remains con-

stant

1. T. A. Rickard, A Guide to Technical Writing (San Francisco: Mining and Scientific Press, 1908) p. 8.

2. Karl Owen Thompson, Technical Exposition (New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1922), p. vii.

3. J. Raleigh Nelson, Writing the Technical Report (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1940), p. 39.

4. Reginald O. Kapp, The Presentation of Technical Information (London: Constable & Company Ltd., 1948), p. 20. (Reprinted, with slight revisions, and published by the Institute for Scientific and Technical Communicators, UK, 1998.)

5. Rickard, p. 12.

6. Tyler G. Hicks, Successful Technical Writing (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1959), pp. 1 and 194.

R E F E R E N C E S

In 2003, the Kapp book

was still in print

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Chapter 2

A Technical Person’s Approach to Writing

Engineering technician Dan Skinner has a report to write on an investiga- tion he completed seven weeks ago. He has made several half-hearted attempts to get started, but never seemed to find the right moment: maybe he was interrupted to resolve a circuit problem, or it was too near lunchtime, or a meeting was called. And now he is up against the wire.

Unless Dan is one of those unusual people who can produce only when under pressure, he is in danger of writing an inadequate, hastily pre- pared report that does not represent his true abilities. He does not realize that by leaving a writing task until it is too late to do a good job, and then frantically organizing the work, he is probably inhibiting his writing capa- bilities.

If Dan were to relax a little, instead of worrying that he has to organ- ize himself and his writing task, he would find the physical process of writ- ing a much more pleasant experience. But first he must change his approach.

Every technical person, from student technician to potential scientist to practicing engineer, has the ability to write clearly and logically. But this ability has to be developed. Dan Skinner must first learn some basic plan- ning and writing techniques, then practice using them until he has acquired the skill and confidence that are the trademarks of an effective writer.

Simplifying the Approach Throughout this book we will be advising you to tell your readers right away what they most need or want to know. This means structuring your writing so that the first paragraph (in short documents, the first sentence) satisfies their curiosity. Most executives and many technical readers are busy people who only have time to read essential information. By pre- senting the most important items first, you can help them decide whether they want to read the whole document immediately, put it aside to read later, or pass it along to a specialist in their department.

This reader-oriented style of presentation is known as the “pyramid technique.” Imagine every letter, memorandum, or report you write is

4

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Technically – Write! Sixth Edition, by Ron Blicq and Lisa Moretto.Published by Prentice Hall.Copyright ©2004 by Pearson Education, Inc.

shaped like a pyramid: there is a small piece of essential information at the top, supported on a broad base of details, facts, and evidence. In most let- ters and short reports the pyramid has only two parts: a brief Summary followed by the Full Development, as shown in Figure 2-1(a). In long reports, an additional part—known as the Essential Details—is inserted between the Summary and the Full Development, as in Figure 2-1(b).

Normally, readers are not aware when a writer has used the pyramid technique. They simply find the letter or report well organized and easy to read. For example, in the opening paragraph of his letter report in Figure 2-2, Wes Hillman summarizes what Tina Mactiere most wants to know (whether the training course was a success and what results were achieved). In the remainder of the letter he fills in background details, states briefly how the course was run, reports on student participation and reaction, and suggests additional topics that could be covered in future courses.

Every document shown in this textbook has been structured using the pyramid technique. The pyramid’s application to letters, memorandums, email messages, reports, proposals, instructions, descriptions, and even resumes and oral presentations is described in Chapters 3 through 8, and 10 and 11. For the moment, just remember that using the pyramid is the simplest, fastest, most effective way to plan and write any document, regardless of its length. If Dan Skinner had known about the pyramid technique, he would have found it much easier to get started.

Planning the Writing Task The word “planning” seems to imply that report writers must start by thoroughly organizing both themselves and their material. We disagree. Organizing too diligently or too early in the writing process inhibits rather

A Technical Person’s Approach to Writing 5

(a) Letters and Short Reports (b) Long Reports

S = Summary

Full Development

Full Development

Essential Details

S S

Figure 2-1 The pyramid writing technique.

The writer’s pyramid

helps you focus your

letters and reports

Society for Technical

Communication

http://stc.org

With more than 20,000

members worldwide,

STC is the largest profes-

sional organization

serving the technical

communication profes-

sion. The society’s

diverse membership

includes writers, editors,

illustrators, printers,

publishers, educators,

students, engineers, and

scientists employed in a

variety of technological

fields.

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6 Chapter 2

October 16, 2004

Tina R. Mactiere, President

Macro Engineering Inc.

600 Deepdale Drive

Phoenix AZ 85007

Dear Ms. Mactiere,

Results of Pilot Report-Writing Course

The report-writing course we conducted for members of your engineering staff

was completed successfully by 14 of the 16 participants. The average mark

was 63%.

This was a pilot course set up in response to an August 13, 2004, enquiry from

Mr. F. Stokes. At his request, we placed most emphasis on providing your staff

with practical experience in writing business letters and technical reports.

Attendance was voluntary, the 16 participants having been selected at random

from 29 applicants.

Best results were achieved by participants who recognized their writing prob-

lems before they started the course, and willingly became actively involved in

the practical work. A few said they had expected to attend an “information” type

of course, and at first were mildly reluctant to take part in the heavy writing pro-

gram. Our comments on the work done by individual participants are attached.

Course critiques completed by the participants indicate that the course met their

needs from a letter- and report-writing viewpoint, but that they felt more empha-

sis could have been placed on technical proposals and oral reporting. Perhaps

such topics could be covered in a short follow-up course.

We enjoyed developing and teaching this pilot course for your staff, and particu-

larly appreciated their enthusiastic participation.

Sincerely,

Wesley G. Hillman

Course Leader

enc

The Roning Group Inc Communication Consultants

2002 South Main Drive

Montrose OH 45287

Full development (all the

details)

Summary (main message)

Figure 2-2 A letter report written using the pyramid technique.

ISBN :0-536-45204-0

Technically – Write! Sixth Edition, by Ron Blicq and Lisa Moretto.Published by Prentice Hall.Copyright ©2004 by Pearson Education, Inc.

than accelerates writing. The key is to organize your information in a spontaneous, creative manner, allowing your mind to freewheel through the initial planning stages until you have collected, scrutinized, sorted, grouped, and written the topics into a logical outline that will appeal to the reader.

We recommend that Dan Skinner at first neither make an outline nor take any action that resembles organization. Instead, he should work through seven simple planning stages that are less structured and therefore less confining. These stages are shown in Figure 2-3 and described in detail below.

1. Gather Information Dan’s first step should be to assemble all the documents, results of tests, photographs, samples, computer data, specifications, and other support- ing material that he will need to write his report, or that he will insert into it. He must gather everything he will need now, because later he will not want to interrupt his writing to look for additional facts and figures.

2. Define the Reader Next, Dan must clearly identify his audience. This is probably the most important part of his planning, for if he does not, he may write an unfo- cused report that misses its mark. He must conjure up an image of the per- son or people who will read his report by asking himself six questions:

1. Who, specifically, is my reader? If it is someone he knows, his task is simplified. If it is someone he is not acquainted with (such as a cus- tomer in an out-of-town firm), he must imagine a persona.

2. Is he or she a technical person? Dan needs to know whether he can use or must avoid technical terms.

A Technical Person’s Approach to Writing 7

”Disorganize” the

writing task!

Pay primary attention to

the ultimate reader

Gather Information

NO ORGANIZING

MINOR ORGANIZING

MAJOR ORGANIZING

Define the

Reader

Define the

Purpose

Jot Down Topic Headings (Random Order)

Delete Irrelevant

Topics

Group Related Topics

Arrange Topic

Groups

Figure 2-3 The seven planning stages. In practice, these stages can overlap.

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3. How much does the reader know about the subject I will be describ- ing? This will give Dan a starting point, since he won’t need to cover information a reader already knows.

4. What does the reader want to know or expect to be told? Dan must be able to anticipate whether the reader will be receptive or hostile to the information he is presenting.

5. Will more than one person read my report? If so, Dan must repeat questions 2 through 4 for additional readers.

6. Who is my primary reader? The primary reader is the person who will make a decision or take action after reading Dan’s report. Often this is the person to whom the report is directed. On occasion it may be one of the secondary readers. For example, a report may be addressed to a department manager, but the person who uses it or does some- thing about it will be an engineer on the manager’s staff.

Dan’s inability to identify his reader was one of the reasons he had diffi- culty getting started on his report-writing task.

3. Define the Purpose Now that he has identified his reader, Dan needs to ask himself one or possibly two more questions:

7. Why am I writing to this person (or these people)? Dan needs to decide whether his objective is to pass along information (to inform the reader about something), or to convince the reader to act or react (to persuade the reader to reply, make a decision, or approve a request).

8. If Dan’s purpose is to persuade, then he also needs to ask: What action do I want the reader to take? This will help him decide what he wants his email, memo, letter, or report to achieve.

Now Dan is ready to develop a focused writing plan.

4. Jot Down Topic Headings Now Dan can start making notes. At this third stage he must “loosen up” enough to generate ideas spontaneously. He needs to brainstorm, so that he comes up with ideas and pieces of information quickly and easily, with- out stopping to question the relevance of that information. That will come later. His role for the moment is purely to collect it.

Normally, at the outlining stage, a technical person will type or write down a set of familiar or arbitrary headings, such as “Introduction,” “Initial Tests,” and “Material Resources,” and arrange them in logical order. But we want our report writer to be different. We want Dan Skinner simply to type the series of topics he plans to discuss, writing only brief headings rather than full sentences. He must do this in random order, making no attempt to force the topics into groups. The topics he knows

8 Chapter 2

Decide: Why am I creat-

ing this message?

Loosen up: Delve deeply

into brainstorming

ISBN :0-536-45204-0

Technically – Write! Sixth Edition, by Ron Blicq and Lisa Moretto.Published by Prentice Hall.Copyright ©2004 by Pearson Education, Inc.

best will spring readily to mind; those he knows less well may take longer to recall.

When he finishes his initial list, he should scroll up the screen and examine each topic to see if it suggests less obvious topics. As additional topics come to mind he must type them in, still in random order, until he finds he is straining to find new ideas.

Dan must not try to decide whether each topic is relevant during this spontaneous brainstorming session. If he does, he will immediately inhibit his creativity because he will become too logical and organized. He must list all topics, regardless of their importance and eventual position in the final report. At the end of this session Dan’s list should look like Figure 2-4.